Sentencing The Sentence a Crown Court can give is always greater than a sentence to Magistrates Court can give. The Sentence will take into account the facts of the case, the circumstances of the defendant and the timeliness of the guilty plea (if the plea was guilty and the sentence is not being passed after a trial). The timliness of the guilty plea is relevent because credit will always be given for pleading guilty at the first available opportunity. There are four different levels of sentence, there are discharges, these can be absolute which effectively means that there is no punishment because the crime is a technical one or a conditional discharge which means that a punishment will only be given if the defendant commits another crime within a specified period. There are also fines, these are the most common sentences. The next level of sentences are community penalties, these are given for the more serious crimes where a fine is felt not to be severe enough and lastly there is of course prison for the very serious crimes or where the Defendant is a repeat offender. This is a very brief guide and further information will be given to you as and when required based on your specific circumstances. |